Holly and Nia

Holly is our eleven year old daughter.  She was born in Huangshi China, and joined our family in 2010 at five years old. Nia is a ten month old White Leghorn. As a rule, leghorns are flighty and don't really have much interest in human interaction.  For the most part that is true of her, but, not when it comes to Holly.  

When we got chickens, Holly wasn't as interested or excited as the other kids.  She didn't like that they would poop in your hand if you held them, and they didn't seem to want to bond with her, or anybody.  Only one of them held any interest for her and that was the one she named Nia after a character in a Ninja video game. She would pick her up, and walk around with her, talking to that little chick and just spending time with her.  Once Nia was big enough to be outside, Holly wanted her to remember those times, but, Nia, like all the other chickens, was more interested in all the great outdoors and would run when anyone tried to approach her.  That made Holly more determined to remind Nia that they were friends.  

She would relentlessly follow Nia around until she could corner her and pick her up.  Surprisingly, Nia didn't resist, and after a short time something special happened.  Nia bonded to Holly.  

Whenever Holly goes into the yard Nia comes trotting up to her waiting to be picked up.  Holly proudly parades her pet chicken around the yard and Nia is not too anxious to be put down.  She is content to just be with Holly and will often fall asleep in her lap.  So, in the end, maybe all that time Holly spent with Nia actually worked out.